The Bicycle Transportation Alliance, the state's most active bicycle advocacy group, says it will lobby hard in the wake of several cycling deaths for a new vehicular homicide law in the 2009 Oregon Legislature.

The BTA will hold a press conference on Monday to start its campaign for a proposed law that would stiffen penalties and make it a felony when drivers with "habitual violations of traffic laws" cause the death of bicyclists.

Jonathan Maus' BikePortland.org blog is reporting that the 10.a.m. event will be held in the law offices of the attorneys representing the family of the late Tim O'Donnell, a 66-year-old Aloha resident killed while riding his bike on a rural road in Washington County last year.

O'Donnell's widow, Mary, will be on hand for the announcement, Maus reports. The law offices of Swanson, Thomas & Coon are at 820 S.W. Second Ave., Suite 200.

According to BikePortland.org, "Oregon is one of only four states without a vehicular homicide law (the others are Alaska, Montana, and Arizona)."

A new bike-safety law that hit the books Jan. 1 says a careless driver who kills or seriously injures a cyclist or other "vulnerable" road user will face stiffer penalties -- up to a year's license suspension and a $12,500 fine.

The law was passed after a 26-year-old Idaho woman with a suspended license struck and killed O'Donnell as he signaled to make a left turn on a rural road. She was driving with an Idaho driver's license after her Oregon license was suspended for failing to appear in court on a ticket she received for driving without insurance.

The BTA wants the proposed new law to be a Class B Felony.

Some of the proposed law's preliminary language:

"Violation of traffic laws by a driver resulting in death to a person on Oregon's roadways, streets or highways where the driver is driving with a Drivers' License Suspended in Oregon or any other state, or is impaired as a result of the use of alcohol or drugs, or is driving without current Automobile Liability Insurance."